Experiences of nursing students in terms of internet information literacy training: a qualitative research

Information literacy is one of the prominent features of an information society. Presently, students are immersed in a sea of online information, but do not know at what point they should reach their goal. Information literacy helps them differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate information. Information literacy is directly connected to humanity. With regard to human complexities and creativity, quantitative evalution methods are replaced by qualitative methods. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of nursing students in terms of internet information literacy training.

This qualitative, content analysis study was performed on 14 graduate nursing students. The study subjects were selected using purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and data collection was continued until data saturation. Thematic content analysis was performed to analyze data.

As a result of data analysis, 5 main themes ("Education and Research", "Barriers to Internet Information Search", "Learning Methods", "Intrest", and "Reflective Self-assessment") and 15 subcategories were identified.

The results indicate the progress of online information literacy among the graduate students during their education. Given the important role of the internet in obtaining access to updated information and effective communication among scientists and researchers in various fields of science, exploring students’ information literacy level and their internet use pattern can provide the context for further quantitative and quantitative research.